美語情景對話 第389期:Teen Life 青少年生活

Mark: Hey, Mike. Here's a question. Do you think teenagers these days, have a better life than say we did when we were teenagers?

馬克：嘿，邁克。我有個問題。你認爲現在的年輕人是不是比我們年輕的時候生活得更好？

Mike: Well, it's, that's a debate that's been going on since the days of Socrates and Plato, I think, but again, and probably like Socrates had said himself, "You know kids today are a lot different than they were when we were younger", that's for sure. Whether it's better or not, I personally think we had it better because we weren't stuck behind a computer or behind a TV set all day. I think we tended to do things more outside, but I think whether you're a teenager now or then, probably the same kind of issues went on in your head.

邁克：這是蘇格拉底和柏拉圖那個時代就開始的爭論，我認爲，就像蘇格拉底說的，“你知道，現在的孩子和我們小的時候有很大的不同”，這是肯定的。無論是不是更好，我個人認爲我們那時的生活更好，因爲我們沒有整天都待在電腦前或是電視前。我想我們那個時候會做更多的室外活動，不過無論你是生活在哪個時代的年輕人，你們的腦中都會思考共同的問題。

Mark: Yeah, that's the way I feel about it, actually.

馬克：對，實際上這也是我的感覺。

Mike: Think so.

邁克：我也是。

Mark: Well, these kind of, these kind of debates or these kid of issues, I feel like there is no better or worse, it's just different, you know.

馬克：這種爭論，或者說這些有關孩子的問題，我覺得並沒有好壞之分，只是不一樣。

Mike: How do you think it's different?

邁克：你覺得有哪些不一樣的地方呢？

Mark: Well, in obvious ways, like the technology now. Like I can remember the first, my first microwave and my family's first VCR, and those were, you know, pretty exciting moments, yeah, absolutely.

馬克：嗯，明顯的不同就是技術。我記得，當我有了第一臺微波爐，我家有了第一臺錄像機的時候，那真是非常令人激動的時刻。

Mike: How's about going to the library to have to get research.

邁克：那去圖書館做研究呢？

Mark: Yeah! That's interesting, but people don't do that much anymore and I don't even realize that, but yeah the technology is definitely better now, but it's more addictive. I mean kids don't play outside. They just play video games all day and you know, I wasn't allowed to stay inside so much when I was a kid.

馬克：對！這很有趣，不過人們做得並不多，我甚至都沒意識到，不過現在的技術絕對更好了，但同樣也更容易上癮。我是說，孩子們不再去外面玩了。他們只是整天打遊戲，而你知道，我小的時候不能總待在家裏。

Mike: Same here. Same here. I was sort of forced to go outside, but also, although, I guess you could make an argument and say the kids do kind of play with each other when they get on those, the internet gaming sites, and there's a whole group of them from Morocco to Mexico to Canada to the States, all playing online, of course, they never see each other but they're all trying to kill each other.

邁克：我也是，我也是。我有點兒像是被迫去外面的，不過我想你可以提出一個論點，孩子們在玩遊戲的時候也是在一起玩耍，而且孩子們來自不同的國家，比如摩洛哥、墨西哥、加拿大、美國等等，他們都一起玩線上遊戲，當然，他們從來沒有見過對方，但是他們試圖在遊戲中殺死對方。

重點講解：
1. go on
進行；發生；
eg. I don't know what's going on.
我不知道發生了什麼事。
eg. While this conversation was going on, I was listening with earnest attention...
這場對話進行的時候，我聚精會神地聽着。
2. for sure
無疑；肯定；
eg. Even to this day we don't know what happened for sure.
即使到現在我們也不確定究竟發生了什麼。
eg. If we could by any possibility manage to do it, we would for sure.
如果我們有辦法做那事，我們一定會做的。
3. allow sb. to do sth.
允許；容許；准許；
eg. This should not be allowed to happen.
我們不應允許這種情況出現。
eg. He promised to allow justice to run its course unimpeded.
他承諾要讓司法正義不受阻礙地得到伸張。
4. force sb. to do sth.
強迫；強制；
eg. The enemy surrounded the town trying to force them to surrender .
敵人圍困了這個城，想逼他們投降。
eg. He was forced by the scandal to resign the office to which he had been elected.
他因醜聞而被迫辭去他已當選的職務。